1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved electrocardiography system which displays and records electrocardiograph signals and, more specifically, to a multiple pickup electrocardiography system designed so that medical personnel may easily select various combinations of pickup leads to be viewed and recorded on various respective channels during the electrocardiographic test process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electrocardiography has become an important diagnostic tool for the medical profession. Moreover, recently it has become important when coupled with the administration of a stress test in conjunction with a treadmill, or the like. Such stress tests are performed not only on patients who have a history of cardiac disease, but also on otherwise healthy patients during a general examination or during an examination related to another physiological problem.
There are currently available systems which, when properly connected to the patient undergoing the stress test, provide a visual display and paper copy record of the electrocardiography results of the stress test. However, such systems require that medical personnel continuously monitor the apparatus for various reasons. For example, it is necessary that such personnel be continually present during the administration of the stress test so that various lead combinations may be connected properly to the readout devices, and then reconfigured to obtain new data readout. Needless to say, this involves an extreme waste of the time of the medical personnel.
Furthermore, prior art systems involve the manual reconfiguration of the test electrode leads, and this also involves the expenditure of much time. If data readout is continuous, as is often the case, the data output is voluminous. This poses a problem when it comes time for the data to be correlated to specific events of the test. As a result, it is extremely difficult to quickly analyze test data.
Typically, in such electrocardiography systems, a large number of electrode leads are connected to the patient, but only a few (for example, three) of these electrode leads are connected to the display and chart recorder for derivation of data. Moreover, the attending physician or test administrator often finds it necessary, in the course of the test, to connect different leads to the display and chart recorder so as to be able to view a different set of derived data. In this respect, prior art systems are burdened by the necessity of strictly manual reconfiguration (disconnection and connection) of the electrode test leads so as to provide new test lead data for display and recording. This involves much time, and accordingly leaves much to be desired in terms of efficiency of operation.
To summarize, the systems of the prior art are limited to those systems by means of which strictly manual electrocardiographic test administration can take place. That is to say, excessive time expenditure and inefficiency are inherent in the systems of the prior art.